J.R. Rizzolo

Name: Johnathan "J.R." or "Riz" Rizzolo

Gender: Male

Age: 17

Grade: 12

School: Southridge High School

Hobbies and Interests: Guitar Hero Fanatic, baseball player, surfing, Thrice, Jack Nicholson films, acting and Shakespeare.

Appearance: J.R. stands at 5'11, weighing in at approximately 165lbs. Typical scrawny type who will learn that a high metabolism won't last forever. He has golden blonde hair that at its longest point touches his shoulders. Like many natural blondes John has sky blue eyes that seem to pierce through anything he looks at. His favourite attire consists of a Thrice t-shirt or his California State Guitar Hero Champion shirt, combined with his favourite pair of blue jeans and a pair of white Nike runners.

Biography: Johnathan was born and raised in Highland a place that he loves. He fell in love with the town when he came of age to explore it. The town is like a sanctuary for J.R., a place he can get away from home. Not to say his home isn't one he likes. Riz loves his home, but when you live with 3 sisters, all younger, you need to escape sometimes and get some personal time.

John's parents seperated when he was 14, but he knew it was for the best. His mom found a new man in Shawn, someone whom John gets along great with. One of his happiest days was seeing his mom at the altar smiling at Shawn. It made John proud inside to know his mom was that happy again.

At school J.R. excelled in Business, English and Drama, often citing his dramatic arts teachers as one of the biggest influences on his life. If you ask him about it, he responds with, "He didn't just teach us subject matter, he taught us how to be better people." Riz also played for the baseball team, becoming one of the ace pitchers. He became well known for his friends bringing signs to the game with the quote, "Can You Smell What The Riz Is Cookin?" stolen of course from the WWF's The Rock.

Riz also found a calling so to speak, when he picked up Guitar Hero for the first time. Joking with his friends that it was like a "white guy's DDR", John became well known on youtube and scorehero for his Full Combo 100% runs of some of the toughest songs in the game series. Recently he competed in the statewide Guitar Hero tournament capturing first place in a grueling final round playing of Hangar 18.

Advantages: Johnathan is extremely resourceful, making the most of situations that may seem bleak. He also possesses strong reflexes from playing pitcher and reacting to balls flying right back at him on line drives.

Disadvantages: John has had no formal combat training at all, and despite being able to throw a solid fastball, he isn't a very strong person. His lack of strength, combined the semi-occurance of Tourette's like ticks may cause the competition to overwhelm him.

Designated Number: Male Student no. 58

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Designated Weapon: Tire Iron

Conclusions: I wonder if B58'll be able to shred with that tire iron as well as he can shred with an axe? Somehow, I doubt it. I don't know, I just don't have high hopes for this one. I think maybe some nerd'll off him for scoring higher than them on a game of Guitar Hero. Besides all that... doesn't he know? Rock Band is SO much cooler.

'The above biography is as written by Scipher. No edits or alterations to the author's original work have been made.'

Evaluations
Kills: Cara Scholte, Anton Wykowsku, Edgar Hoskins, Joseph Cande, Dawn Beckworth, Velvet Retsiloh, Emma Babineaux, Lyn Burbank, Nicole Husher, Edward Sullivan, Lulu Altaire

Killed By: Maxie Dasai (one year after the game)

Collected Weapons: Tire Iron (issued), morning star (from Wade Wilson)

Allies: None

Enemies: None

Mid-game Evaluation: J.R. spent the first three days out of everyone's way, wandering around the island aimlessly. Over the course of those days, J.R.'s mindset had changed from refusing to fight, to deciding that killing everyone was the only option if he was to leave the island. He initially decided on going to the babbling brook, but changed his plans once it was announced as a danger zone, and ended up at the jailhouse instead. As he approached the building, he saw Keith Jackson and Kallie Majors entering and thought of a plan. Ripping his shirt up and following the pair inside, he spun a story about encountering and being attacked by Harry Tsai in order to gain their trust. Moments thereafter, Boxer Carvalho arrived, giving J.R. a divertion and allowing him to leave the premises, indicating to the others that he was going to the hospital.

J.R. made his way to the lagoon, starting to tire out and collapsing on the floor to fall asleep. However, he was woken up instantly when he realised that he'd stumbled across the bodies of Joe Gai, Jodene Zalack and Mortimer Jones, J.R. deciding to move them into the water as a last mark of respect. Taking the morning star that had been left protuding from Jodene's body, he moved on. He returned to the graveyard, coming across Emma Babineaux and Maxie Dasai.

Post-Game Evaluation:

Memorable Quotes:
 * "If you really wanted to save her, you would have done something, anything to save her. Don’t lie to yourself Sullivan, you’re out to win. You’re playing this game just as much as me."
 * "There is no escape Emma. I don't care what my family thinks anymore. They'll be happy that I'll be the one coming home. They'll be happy that J.R. is back. No one will second guess what I've done. They'll all chalk it up to the mental distress of the game. You though...you were stupid enough to believe me. You were stupid enough to think that I actually cared about you."

Other/Trivia

 * As of the completion of V4, Riz is the only winner of SOTF who was never rolled during the game.
 * In September '08 Riz won the BKA for killing Cara Scholte.
 * In February '09 Riz won the BKA for his kills of Emma Babineaux and Lyn Burbank.

Threads
Below is a list of threads that contain John, in chronological order.

V3:
 * Betrayal is a Symptom
 * High Voltage
 * A Living Dance Upon Dead Minds
 * at Dawn
 * The Science of Selling Yourself
 * Desperation
 * The Wind Below
 * This Fire Burns
 * The Science of Selling Yourself (second visit to thread)
 * Panic Attack
 * A Convoluted Conventicle
 * Break Out, Break Out
 * Running of the Fallen
 * The Answer
 * Trashed and Scattered
 * Lock, Step, and Gone
 * Kotov Syndrome
 * Episode 1087: Murder on the Midnight Wire
 * Dénouement
 * V3 Epilogue: We Did It, When We Were Young

Your Thoughts
''Whether you were a fellow handler in SOTF or just an avid reader of the site, we'd like to know what you thought about John Rizzolo. What did you like, or dislike, about the character? Let us know here!''

I remember reading somewhere here that the best of the players in V3 were the ones that looked like totally normal people in their profiles, and J.R is a good example of that. His profile has nothing that would alert me to what he was going to do on the island, nor does it have anything that is even remotely out of the ordinary (his skill at Guitar Hero notwithstanding). If I had not known about it beforehand via looking, him becoming a player, and the actions that he committed, would have been a massive surprise to me, and made me respect him even more than I do now. Essentially, he completely surprised me with how normal he seemed and I like that.

Now, moving on to his actions within the game, I really liked him! Some of the kills he has are some of the best individual kills that I’ve seen in V3. His kills of Emma and Eddie spring to mind, because they show how the game has ruined his life, and have some of the better writing and ways of going through itself that I’ve seen in SOTF. His killing of Emma springs to mind for the most part, as Emma getting stabbed literally comes out of nowhere, and the scene still makes perfect sense even looking back on it. The kill of Eddie is apparently considered to be one of the better fight scenes in SOTF, and I’d agree with them for the most part; the use of tension and the fact that the tides keep changing make it an incredibly tense (Is that the right word for it?) fight that you’re not entirely sure who’s going to win.

His isn’t without his flaws, however. In the first third of his story (basically the beginning of his story until he kills Cara), he’s too generically evil without actually doing anything (the only things I consider notable in that timeframe are his decision to play the game and him winning Emma from Maxie). Once he actually kills someone though, his characterisation is set on track, and he manages to become the player who remained constant and interesting throughout his narrative.

The only other thing I’d say that I dislike about him is that his role in the epilogue and his death are completely underwhelming. The idea of the big villain winning the version is an interesting one, and seeing how they go back to normal life with the full ramifications of what they’ve done is an interesting concept. However, the concept isn’t handled very well, and it lasts for all of one post before J.R is unceremoniously killed off and the epilogue becomes about the escapees.

Despite the fact that the flaws section on my writeup is longer than the section with the things I like about him, J.R is still a great character, with some excellent lines and fight scenes. - Yugikun